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[12], 630 pp. (A-Iii6, Kkk4). Metalcut portrait of John Florio by William Hole on a6v (sometimes bound as the frontispiece). (folio) 11½x7, period calf, raised spine bands. Second Florio Edition.

Second edition of John Florio's translation into English of Montaigne's Essays, following the edition produced in 1603. Books two and three have separate dated title-pages, with pagination and register continuous. Montaigne is generally credited with the invention of the essay, his Essays were first published in French in 1580, and are called by Printing and the Mind of Man the "consummate representation of the enlightened scepticism of the sixteenth century... " Florio's translation is considered one of the great translations of the Elizabethan period. With early ink ownership signature of Samuel Green to top of title-page; occasional old ink numbers and other marks in the margins. (PMM 95); STC 18042.